MTA Subway Service Disruptions: 9/20 – 9/27

With all the construction going on along the B and Q subway lines, walls at the stations are getting lots of colorful decorations in the form of service announcements. I asked the booth clerk this morning about the construction, and even he seemed at a loss to explain the various changes going on and referred me to the signs, which he said get updated every day and he’s lost track of the latest disruptions.

Well, we’re doing our best to cut through the clutter. It’s not easy, considering there are several incorrect signs up. Below is the most current slew of changes covering this week and weekend. Hopefully it won’t change midway through, but it’s accurate as of noon today.

Weekday Changes

B/Q – Late night – Coney Island-bound trains skip Avenue J from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday to Friday, until September 24. (There’s an erroneous sign at Sheepshead Bay Road station saying the B train is only affected by this from 11 p.m. to midnight. Ignore it.)

Q – Late night – In both directions, trains run local from 34th Street in Manhattan to Canal Street, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday to Friday, until September 24.

B/Q – All times – Avenue U and Neck Road station Manhattan-bound platforms are closed until early 2011.

Weekend Changes

Q – Late night – No trains will run between 9:30 p.m. on Friday until 5 a.m. on Monday between Prospect Park and Stillwell Avenue. Free shuttle buses will replace service. Read our earlier post about this.

B – The last B train on Friday at Sheepshead Bay Road train station will arrive at 8:25 p.m.

Q – Trains run local in both directions between canal Street and 34th Street in Manhattan.

Q – All times – Avenue U and Neck Road station Manhattan-bound platforms are closed until early 2011.

Upcoming Changes

Manhattan-bound platforms of Avenue H, Avenue J and Avenue M stations are closed, beginning 5 a.m. on Monday, September 27, until rehabilitation work is completed. (Note that there are erroneous signs at some of the stations saying that Coney Island-bound platforms will be closed, not Manhattan-bound. Ignore them.)

So typical of the MTA. They never get a project done on time or under the time estimated. I guess some of the employees and contractors are happy though. I did have an MTA employee confess to me once during a delay at the Prospect Park station that he could care less about because: “I get paid overtime anyway. Why should I care?”.

To be more technical and specific it’s the Manhattan Bound side of the Avenue U and Neck Road Stations that are closed until 2011. The B train does stop at the Coney Island bound side of those stations during the weekdays until about 9pm or so.

oh really? this Brighton Line Rehabilitation Project is right on track of being finished by this time next year. In fact, you should be thanking the MTA because they reopened the Coney Island-bound side of Avenue H, J, M and Kings Highway when they are only like 70% completed just so express service could be restored ASAP. They put the B on the flyers because the B runs local with the Q until next Fall.

I really hope they reopen the Avenue U Manhattan bound line before November. Walking to Kings Highway at 6AM on a cold winter day is not going to be fun. The Kings Highway Manhattan bound Q train line feels overcrowded and unsafe during peak hours. I feel that someone is eventually going to fall onto the tracks.

it will not reopen until January 2011. Besides, customers like you are the reason why there is a B3K bus running weekday mornings along Avenue U from Gerristen Avenue to Kings Highway. Take that if you are cold.

The B/Q Kings Highway Station platform is an absolute mess. They recently took down the temporary platform that connected both the Manhattan- and Coney Island-bound trains, but as a result the Manhattan-bound platform is narrower than ever. Obviously there’s going to be more construction performed on it in the near future, but I too fear that someone’s going to slip and fall onto the tracks during AM rush hour. The platform is so thin that I’ve seen a line form just to get up onto it, stretching all the way down the stairwell near the Quentin Road entrance.

Who cares? You, I nor most people getting on the commoner’s train aren’t worth enough money. Let us peasant slobs suffer. Wasn’t the entire line built in 4 years time when it was first constructed? Nothing is built for the people who utilize the commodity anymore. All about overtime and selfishness.